FIRE CODE CHANGE CONSIDERED

City commissioners took preliminary steps Wednesday to relax a stringent fire-safety law that penalizes landlords for failing to maintain battery- operated smoke detectors.

Despite objections from Fire Chief Jim Ward and state Fire Marshal Dennis Dewar, commissioners recommended that landlords be given at least one warning and possibly two to repair non-functioning battery-powered detectors before they are penalized.

Currently, landlords are forced to install expensive, hard-wire detectors, which tie into the building's electric supply, if fire inspectors find that even one battery-powered detector isn't working.

Commissioners also recommended that tenants, instead of landlords, be legally responsible for maintaining battery-operated detectors.

Tenants could be fined up to $500 and jailed for 30 days if they are held legally responsible, Ward said, but City Attorney Andrew DeGraffenreidt said he is unsure whether that is true.

Hard-wire detectors can cost up to $100 each to install, nearly 10 times the cost of installing battery-operated units, said landlord Erzsabet Gombos.

"I think the financial impact of this current policy must be considered," said Commissioner John Williams, who suggested the fire code change.

"No one is trying to endanger anyone's life, but it's totally unfair for a landlord, who's already operating under severe economic hardships, to be forced to rewire their entire building because one tenant may have taken a battery out of one smoke detector."

Commissioners ordered DeGraffenreidt to draft a new law in two weeks with relaxed requirements for consideration.

Ward said he objects to giving landlords any warnings. He said landlords who abuse the "privilege" of being allowed battery detectors should be immediately forced to install hard-wire detectors to guarantee the safety of occupants.

Ward said 12 people died in apartment fires during the five years before 1979, the year smoke detectors were first required. Since then, only one person has died in an apartment fire, he said.

Dewar, speaking from his office in Tallahassee, objected to commissioners overriding the concerns of Hollywood fire inspectors.